Just noticed (on the Club Lotus Avon webpage) details of this new book by Tom Barnard:

"Tom Barnard, who was one of the earliest Lotus drivers, has just published his autobiography 'I Gathered No Moss'.

In 1954 the original Team Lotus was formed with Mike Anthony, Peter Gammon, and Colin as drivers. That autumn Tom went to see Colin to discuss running two Lotus models in a new Team he was forming for the 1955 season. The result was the Six Mile Stable with Tom and Dmitri Kasterine in Lotus Climaxes, and Noel Cunningham Reid in a Lister Bristol.

For the next three years Tom drove in as many events as possible. His 1957 successes included three Firsts, six Seconds, and seven Thirds. As a result of this he qualified for full membership of the British Racing Drivers' Club.

The book is a full autobiography and includes a childhood spoiled by World War Two, an amusing account of his time in the army, his creation of the Barnard Formula Six, and his many projects as a race track designer in the UK and abroad.

Available by post for £11.99 including P&P.Please make cheques out to "T. Barnard". 128 Furzebrook Road, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5AR(Note postage outside the UK increases the cost.)

An order form for Tom's book can be downloaded from his Facebook page."

Just noticed (on the Club Lotus Avon webpage) details of this new book by Tom Barnard:

"Tom Barnard, who was one of the earliest Lotus drivers, has just published his autobiography 'I Gathered No Moss'.

In 1954 the original Team Lotus was formed with Mike Anthony, Peter Gammon, and Colin as drivers. That autumn Tom went to see Colin to discuss running two Lotus models in a new Team he was forming for the 1955 season. The result was the Six Mile Stable with Tom and Dmitri Kasterine in Lotus Climaxes, and Noel Cunningham Reid in a Lister Bristol.

For the next three years Tom drove in as many events as possible. His 1957 successes included three Firsts, six Seconds, and seven Thirds. As a result of this he qualified for full membership of the British Racing Drivers' Club.

The book is a full autobiography and includes a childhood spoiled by World War Two, an amusing account of his time in the army, his creation of the Barnard Formula Six, and his many projects as a race track designer in the UK and abroad.

Available by post for £11.99 including P&P.Please make cheques out to "T. Barnard". 128 Furzebrook Road, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5AR(Note postage outside the UK increases the cost.)

An order form for Tom's book can be downloaded from his Facebook page."

This book covers the brief racing career of Frank Lockhart from 1923 to his death in 1928 attempting to set the Land Speed Record. The book is primarily photographic. There are 25 pages of text covering Lockhart's life and racing career; 165 pages of black and white period photos; 17 pages of tables listing Lockhart's racing results, speed records and poles; and 36 pages of appendices on the intercooler patent; the Land Speed Record Car; the tire issue, Lockhart's estate inventory; the statement from Stutuz on the pedigree of the 1928 Stutz special at the Indianpolis 500; the testimony of William Sturm on Lockhart's character; and Lockhart family documents such as marriage licenses and birth/death certificates. A bibliography and index are also included.

In my opinion, the photographs are what make this book a "must-have" for enthusiasts interested in American auto racing of the 1920s. Except for a few cases where the originals were clearly of inferior quality, the photos are of very high quaility with excellent reproduction and printing. The bulk of the images (72 pages) cover Lockhart's racing career. Another major portion (63 pages) covers the Land Speed Record attempts. Of particular interest to me in this section are images of the car under construction. Finally, the photo section has images of Lockhart's cars after his death as they continued to be used by other drivers into the early thirties.

Since I am not an expert, others will have to find the inevitable errors that exist in historical works. Since my copy contained an erratum slip correcting a date in one of the photo captions, I expect that the authors have been diligent in their quest for accuracy.

As a side note, it is stated on the end flap that this book is one of the Racemaker Press American Racing History Series. Morgan-Wu and O'Keefe are working on "Peugeot Racing In America", covering the Pre-WW II history and scheduled for publication in 2012. In addtion, the catalog that came with the book has a listing for "One Fast Car - The Birth of Hisso Racers: Adapting Aero Engines to Dirt Track Racing During the Early 1920s" by Thomas L. De Fazio. It is listed as coming in Winter of 2011.

I had a flick through the copy I saw in Glenrothes a few weeks back and decided it against it. I have warned againt these Encyclopaedia type books for birthdays and Christmasses (sp?), as I'm sure I contain more knowledge that the book does and also possibly trying not to inflate Bruce Jones' wallet, which one imagines must be bulging with the vast volumes of F1 encylcopaedias containing his name that come out each year.

I had a flick through the copy I saw in Glenrothes a few weeks back and decided it against it. I have warned againt these Encyclopaedia type books for birthdays and Christmasses (sp?), as I'm sure I contain more knowledge that the book does and also possibly trying not to inflate Bruce Jones' wallet, which one imagines must be bulging with the vast volumes of F1 encylcopaedias containing his name that come out each year.

Nice present for a youngster I thought. Can't decide if suitable yet for my 7 year old nephew..

"Argentine Grand Prix Races 1971-1981" by Hernan Lopez Laiseca. To have been published by Iconografix in Oct. 2011, but has vanished from Amazon.com in the US, and is not listed at the Iconografix web site. However, it is still on the amazon.co.uk site: link.

"Around the Raceway" by Terry Walker. Announced by author on 04-Oct-06, but the web site he listed has vanished. Link

"BMW Ultimate Drives Vol. 2 1983-2011" by Jeremy Walton. To be published by Coterie.

NEW: "Bob Wollek, Le Champion Marginal". To be published by Le Mans Racing in June 2012. Link.

Brian Redman autobiography, by Redman & ??. As of 11-Feb-2011, Bill Wagenblatt reports that Redman is considering having Wagenblatt work on the book after Redman and Michael Keyser parted ways, but nothing has been decided. Link

"Ferrari 330P4 - The Complete Story" by Nathan Beehl & Paul Skett. ISBN 0954694635. Listed on Amazon UK. As of 12-Oct-2011, Beehl says that book has not been started yet, but still hopes to do it. Link.

"NASCAR Engines - The History Of America's Racing Engines" by John Carollo and William Holder. Scheduled to be published by David Bull in 2005, has an ISBN number (1893618463), but still not out.

Nick Loudon photography book. As of 04-Jun-08, Andrew Kitson hinted that a book will be out in "months to come". Link

NEW: "One Fast Car - The Birth of Hisso Racers: Adapting Hispano-Suiza Aero Engines to Dirt Track Racing During the Early 1920s" by Thomas L. De Fazio. To be published by Racemaker Press "in Winter of 2011". Link.

"Talbot-Lago Grand Sport" by Peter Larsen. To be published by Dalton Watson. From the end flap of "Watkins Glen, the Street Years 1948-1952".

"Time and Two Seats Data Book" by Janos Wimpffen. Covers the same races as the original "Time and Two Seats" but with additional information such as more chassis numbers plus corrections of mistakes--very little text and photos, mostly data. Link.

"Golden Age Of The Italian Racing Car" - Griffth Borgeson. To have been published by Norton in 1995. Author deceased.

Group A History by Jesper O. Hansen. Link. As of 13-Oct-2011, the author says it is unlikely to be completed. Link.

"Group B Source Book" by Trevor Alder. To have been published in the Transport Source Book series.

"Helio Castroneves - The Spiderman Of Indy" by Castroneves & Alexandre Peconick. To have been published by Sports Publishing in 2007, ISBN 1596700084. Probably replaced by "Victory Road: The Ride of My Life" by Castroneves, published in 2010.

"International Sports Car Racing" by Gregor Grant. To have been published by Foulis, probably in 1954. Listed in an advertisement in "Formula 3 Yearbook 1953-1954".

"McGovern/Bevan - Saloon Car Champions" by Martyn Evans. To have been published in 2001.

"Mein Mann Der Rennfahrer" by Elly Rosemeyer. English edition. While it was never published, there is at least one copy, which may be an author's proof, that was owned by Earl Howe and is now in private hands. Also, it is stated in "It Beats Working" by Eoin Young that a German collector bought another copy in a second-hand bookshop in Zurich in 1960.

"Montlhery" by Boddy as an edition published by the Motoraces Book Club (MBC), not as the well-known Cassell edition. However, JM Dent who owned MBC seems to have purchased the remaining stock of the original Cassell edition, and MBC leaflets offered it as a free gift to new subscribers. For more discussion of what was published as MBC editions, start here.

"My Checkered Past - An Autobiography" by A.J. Foyt. To have been published by Harper in 2006. ISBN 0060572086

"OSCA - The Truth And The Rumors" by Phillipe Olczyk. Announced in 2003. Still on this website.

"Peugeot (The)" by William Court. Announced as part of the Macdonald Automobile History series.

"Porsche 906" by Phillipe Olczyk. Announced in 2003.

NEW: "Power And Glory Vol. 3" by William Court. Author deceased.

"Racing Cars and Recordbreakers 1922-39" by TR Nicholson.

"Racing The Porsche 911 - From Monte Carlo 1965 To GT1" by Bill Oursler and Mike Cotton. To have been published by Osprey in 2000.

"Red Mist" by Nigel Stepney. To have been published in 2008. ISBN 0955662249.

"Reliant Scimitar (The)" by Adrian Ball. To have been published by Motor Racing Publications in the Collector's Guide series.

"Sebring 12-Hour Race 1962 Photo Archive" by Robert C.Auten. To have been published by Icongrafix in 1996."Sebring 12-Hour Race 1965 Photo Archive" by Robert C.Auten. To have been published by Icongrafix in 1996.

Sitges book offered by Peter Schomer, but never published even after collecting pre-publication deposits. Link.

NEW: "Texas Legacy Vol. 2 - Tales From the Golden Days Of Midget Racing in Texas" by Philip LeVrier. To have been published in 1985, according to the ad at the back of "Texas Legacy Vol. 1". Author deceased,

"Supercars For Supermen - German Grand Prix Cars Of The 1930s" by David Hodges. Listed on end flap of the three books in the Donington Monomarques series as a future title, but never published.

Books with title changes between annoucement and publication:Updated 09-Apr-2012

"Automobiles of Gabriel Voisin (The)" by Pascal Courteault, ISBN 0-904568-51-2. Eventually published as "Automobiles Voisin", in French, with a separate English translation by Peter Hull: ISBN 0-904568-72-5.

"Baja - 1000 Miles To Glory" by Marty Fiolka, published instead as "1000 Miles To Glory".

"Bred To Win - Twenty Years Of The Suzuki GSX-R" by Marc Cook, published instead as "Suzuki GSX-R - A Legacy of Performance".

NEW: "Bettenhausen Story (The) - A Complete Illustrated History Of The World's First Family Of Auto Racing" By Carl Hungness. Advertised in Racing Cars magazine Vol. 1 No.2. To have been published in 1977. Published insetad as "Go! - The Bettenhausen Story" in 1982.

For those in the Bristol area who might be into things on two wheels as well as four, The Works has copies of "Bristol Speedway 1928-1949" by Bamford & Jarvis (Tempus 2006) at a remarkably cheap £2.99.

For those in the Bristol area who might be into things on two wheels as well as four, The Works has copies of "Bristol Speedway 1928-1949" by Bamford & Jarvis (Tempus 2006) at a remarkably cheap £2.99.

If Ian Bamsey covers the Lolas as well as he covers the Lotus 25, Vanwall and Auto Union in his other vols, the book is well worth buying IMHO.Roger Lund

The Lola book is, indeed, of similar standard to the other Bamsey volumes in the 'Technical appraisal' series and, while the design and photo reproduction leaves a bit to be desired, I would agree with Roger that they are all useful additions to the bookshelf.

The Lola book is, indeed, of similar standard to the other Bamsey volumes in the 'Technical appraisal' series and, while the design and photo reproduction leaves a bit to be desired, I would agree with Roger that they are all useful additions to the bookshelf.

A similar deal is available from Amazon in the U.S. I just ordered a copy for $12, used but brand new, plus $4 shipping. Quite a bargain.

Talking about Pritchard's Scarlet Passion: I ordered it on 28th March, received acknowledgement of the order with a delivery estimate of 6 May. It arrived yesterday, 13th April, from Wales. Sixteen bucks. Very nice book. GREAT book for that price.

No, they probably found them behind something else in the stockroom! It's been out of print for years, but as an ex-bookseller I can assure you these things happen ;) Some years ago several dozen copies of "Racing 1500s" emerged from the depths of either Chaters' or Menoshire's basement where they'd slumbered for at least 15 years. When Menoshire used to operate out of an old shop in Acton you would not have believed what was in their basement! Mint copies of the paperback edition of Jenks' "The Racing Driver" still in original bales of 36 ...

Talking about Pritchard's Scarlet Passion: I ordered it on 28th March, received acknowledgement of the order with a delivery estimate of 6 May. It arrived yesterday, 13th April, from Wales. Sixteen bucks. Very nice book. GREAT book for that price.

I had the same experience. And the same seller had a copy of Peter Warr's Team Lotus: My View From the Pitwall, available for pre-order in the U.S. on Amazon for $23.14, for $16.25 plus $4.00 shipping. It arrived from Wales yesterday. Copies are listed today for $17.25.

One of the joys of being a bookseller is finding old stashes of books that you thought you no longer had! I've done that several times over the years, but recently I moved so found even more. Among the finds was a box containing 10 copies of Karl Ludvigsen's history of Ilmor, Prime Movers. Years ago I frequented an ancient car museum in Denver, Colorado. They had a dusty old bookstore, and it still offered copies of many 1950s titles. I bought a few then eventually asked what other books they had in storage. What they found eventually made them, me, and my customers all happy!

On the other hand, some old books seem to breed on the shelves, as coat-hangers are known to do!

No, they probably found them behind something else in the stockroom! It's been out of print for years, but as an ex-bookseller I can assure you these things happen ;) Some years ago several dozen copies of "Racing 1500s" emerged from the depths of either Chaters' or Menoshire's basement where they'd slumbered for at least 15 years. When Menoshire used to operate out of an old shop in Acton you would not have believed what was in their basement! Mint copies of the paperback edition of Jenks' "The Racing Driver" still in original bales of 36 ...

Vitesse, ok!! Maybe they found them at a french whole saler??

I once found an original wrapped book (on motoring) from 1938 in the cellar of a bookshop (in the 70s) in Munich..just forgotton!!

Here's the first two sentences of the Wikipedia entry for VDM publishing

VDM Publishing is a German publishing group based in Saarbrücken, Germany, with offices in Argentina, Latvia, Mauritius and Moldova. Submissions are neither peer reviewed nor edited. Its book production is based on print on demand technology.

I am told that Amazon (US) no longer allows these "publications" to be sold via its site.

Frank

I sent an e-mail off to Amazon about 18 months ago about those "books" and belive you me, it takes a lot to get me to complain about anything. Got back a bog standard reply really, but I felt better for getting it off my chest.

BTW: when you do a detailed research on abebooks (at least in Germany) you have now the option to filter real books from 'print on demand'..I was astonished that more than 50% of the hits were POD books (Miller et al)...

BTW: when you do a detailed research on abebooks (at least in Germany) you have now the option to filter real books from 'print on demand'..I was astonished that more than 50% of the hits were POD books (Miller et al)...

But we have discussed that already!!

Regards Michael

Not necessarily a good option in every case though. Some legitimate publishers have licensed POD editions of out of print titles or have their own POD operations. I was looking for an obscure military history book published 20 years ago by a local history group in Surrey the other day and the only two hits on ABE were POD - I suspect the author, who is now better-known than he was then, may have retained/acquired the copyright. However, given that both quoted about £25 and I only really wanted the thing to check a few references which might or might not be in it I decided to put in a library interloan request for it!

Not necessarily a good option in every case though. Some legitimate publishers have licensed POD editions of out of print titles or have their own POD operations. I was looking for an obscure military history book published 20 years ago by a local history group in Surrey the other day and the only two hits on ABE were POD - I suspect the author, who is now better-known than he was then, may have retained/acquired the copyright. However, given that both quoted about £25 and I only really wanted the thing to check a few references which might or might not be in it I decided to put in a library interloan request for it!

Vitesse , agreed...Not all PODs are Wiki-garbage..There are some privately published Bugatti titles in Germany ,which are absolutely of highest quality..But as I said earlier: you give a key-word (anything) in the amazon or abe search mask, and 100% sure there is a title containing 'your' keyword, and 100% it's of the Miller-variety..Best regards Michael

I am delighted to report that a long-awaited book has just landed on my doormat - 'Tony Brooks - Poetry in Motion', the great driver's immensely overdue autobiography, has just been released by Motor Racing Publications - ISBN 978-1-899870-83-7. We leaned on Tony for 15 years before finally persuading him that one day his grandchildren really will want to know what Gran'pa did. He wrote it himself, it's very detailed and packed with information and insight, and for every enthusiast of a certain age it is surely a must have. Dave McKinney has provided the racing record and a hugely impressive analysis of Tony's successes. Some great photograph features, too...